


hearts of darkness

by caffeineaddicted_malec



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - The Vampire Diaries, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark Alec Lightwood, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Getting Back Together, Heartache, Heavy Angst, Human/Vampire Relationship, Lovers to Exes to Friends to Lovers?, M/M, Mundane Magnus Bane, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Break Up, Prom, School Dances, Sebastian wants Alec, Strong Friendships, Vampire Alec Lightwood, Vampire Bites
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15961991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffeineaddicted_malec/pseuds/caffeineaddicted_malec
Summary: "That's what true love is. Always wanting what's best for someone, even if that doesn't include you"When Magnus Bane begins his Senior Year at Idris High School, he is heartbroken over the loss of his boyfriend, Alec Lightwood who sacrificed himself over to the enemy to keep Magnus alive. If Magnus had thought he could deal with his boyfriend and his family being Vampires and be done with the problems in his life, he now has to deal with a town where everything reminds him of the time he spent with Alec. But he has to because Alec is gone, and he is not coming back.Maybe he should have not fallen in love with a Vampire, who could so easily trade-off his humanity for the sake of Magnus' life, at all. But now, he is here, walking among the other kids at Idris High School, with a promise he made to Alec that he would live his life to the fullest and not hesitate to fall in love again? But it is never that easy, is it?





	hearts of darkness

**Author's Note:**

> hello, hello, hello <3 
> 
> i know i am supposed to be writing the epilogue to AYHD but I had this concept in my mind on Monday and then before i knew what was happening, i had written 3K words on the prologue. it will be a 15+ chapter fic, as per my calculations and i have hardly written anything other than the prologue, but i wanted to post this while it is still Alaa's birthday. She wanted a Vampire!Alec fic as much as i wanted to a humanity-off storyline for malec and so, "hearts of darkness" was born. i will continue this alongside LMW but don't worry, i am not disappearing anywhere. all the fics will be completed in due time.
> 
> this story is loosely based on "The Vampire Diaries - Season 3" [at least the first 2-3 chapters]. Alec's character is by and large inspired by Stefan Salvatore BUT, there are elements of Damon in him. And before you guys kill me, nope... Magnus is not going to be Elena. He may look slightly ooc from the show, but he won't have the problematic elements associated with Elena (i love her regardless, but yeah... just so everyone is clear). Sebastian Verlac is going to be based off of Klaus (but without the good parts of the Original Vampire). He is pure evil here. 
> 
> this story picks up abruptly after Alec leaves Magnus, so i am here if there's anything you want to get clarified. i have tried to make the prologue as descriptive as possible and if you've seen TVD, it will be pretty easy for you to follow. BUT, it is alright if you haven't seen the show. i've tried to mould the story based on the plotlines we know from shadowhunters. if you use Twitter, you can tag me @aliaawrites or hashtag #hodfic and I'll love to respond to any questions you have. 
> 
> for reference purposes, alec is 19-year old and magnus is 17-year old when the story picks up. even though they were in a relationship, there are no under-age elements at all. i will post trigger-warnings before chapters if they are necessary. for this one, there's just description of alec feeding on people.

Magnus adjusted his cobweb earcuff on his ear and took a look at himself. He couldn’t care less that Raphael, Jace and Catarina were honking on the main gate. Summers over. Back to school. Time to get his life back together and not think about... _no more sulking and moping over things you can’t control_ , he slapped himself rather harshly and picked up his bag, throwing it on his shoulder. His brand new black nail paint dazzled on his nails and black stone bracelets that adorned his wrist. Everything about his first day at school look was black, like the last few months had been. He jumped down his stairs and waved at Jocelyn and Luke – his adoptive parents.

“Come on, dude! What took you so long!!”, Raphael groaned. He unlocked the car door for him and Magnus settled on the passenger seat. Once Magnus was in, no one spoke a word as if they were too scared to trigger something they were all wanting to desperately avoid. Magnus pulled out his phone and checked his texts. There was no new notification – not that he was waiting for someone specific to text him. He rolled his eyes and threw his phone back in his bag and focusing on the empty roads of their town. To someone who looked on the outside, Idris looked like nothing terrible had ever happened in this town, but the residents knew better.

As Raphael’s mustang rolled into Idris High School, Magnus shook his thoughts away and made a mental note to make a serious effort at school this year. That is all he could ever do to honor the promise he had made to live his life to the fullest of his potential and not be heartbroken over what he had lost. But he knew it wasn’t going to be easy considering how everything had begun from this very school. A year ago, Magnus had met someone who had changed his life forever. He walked through the galleries of the high school and reached his locker. Should he open the locker and face the once beautiful memories which were nothing more than a thorn to his heart now? He dropped his forehead onto the cold metal of the locker door and took a deep breath.

_This should have been easier._

Groping for the lock of the door, he turned the knob and the locker clicked open. He took another deep breath and looked inside. It was empty. No photographs, no letters and those notes he had exchanged last year. There was a box lying in one corner of the locker and a note by his younger sister Clary. _All the notes and photographs are in the box. I couldn’t take them away from you... but at the very least, they won’t scream in front of your eyes the next time you open this locker._ Magnus smiled as he read the note and took out that box. It was a very beautiful one and he recognized it as one of the Fairchild family heirlooms. Pressing a kiss on the top of the box, he placed it back inside the locker and took out his notepad and stationary.

When she shut the locker door, he saw a familiar face standing in front of the locker next to him. The locker belonged too... “Isabelle, hey!”, Magnus shook his thoughts away and plastered a smile on his face. A young girl with jet black hair and pale skin turned to him. She was just as beautiful as Magnus remembered last seeing her over a month and half ago.

“Magnus!”, she acknowledged.

“Welcome to Sophomore year, my dear!”, Magnus extended his hands out inviting the girl in for a hug. She scoffed and hugged him back and he squeezed her as if trying to find something familiar in the Lightwood girl. Maybe just how similar every Lightwood smelled like.

“Thank you...”, she sighed, pulling away from the older boy. “I am taking that Clary finally convinced you to come to the party tonight?”, she arched a brow, trying to make a normal conversation with him. “It is after all for your birthday”, she winked, even though Magnus could see right through her sad eyes.

Magnus threw his head back and groaned in annoyance. The _birthday party._ He sighed. Clary and Jace were throwing him a birthday party in the evening... and that too in the Lightwood manor. There couldn’t possibly be a worse venue than that for a party that Magnus didn’t want. “I don’t even feel like celebrating my birthday anymore, Iz... why do Clary and Jace have to...”, he muttered.

“Magnus... birthdays are good and happy days. And they come only once every year... so you _have_ to celebrate it, okay? It’s not every day someone turns seventeen!! We have to party...”, she chirped, locking that empty locker next to Magnus’ and hooking her arms around him.

“Says the girl who has been alive for the past...what? A hundred and fifty years?”, Magnus deadpanned.

“A hundred and fifty-two...”, Isabelle corrected. “But, birthdays are fun... and we’re still throwing you a party. So please!”, she requested.

“I’ll think about it...”

“Oh, come on Magnus. You’re not the one supposed to be this dense and grumpy... that is my br-”, she gasped and closed her eyes. No... this wasn’t supposed to happen. She had promised herself to not think about him... and here she was, breaking the promise only minutes after entering school. “What I meant... was that Magnus Bane is supposed to be the life of a party... and I want that boy back tonight. Okay?”, she collected herself rather efficiently and smiled.

But Magnus hadn’t been able to process anything after Isabelle mistakenly mentioned her brother. “Have you... has he...?”

“Nope”, Isabelle responded without waiting for Magnus to say the name out loud. “It has been a radio silence from his side for three weeks now and I don’t know how to say this to you Magnus... but I think we should stop looking... _you_ should stop looking. If he doesn’t want to be found, I know that from experience that we will not be able to track him... soon and time passes really different for us vampires but you’re still human and there’s a chance that by the time he decides to come back, you would have lived your entire life. There _is_ a reason he made you promise to live a normal and happy life without him.”, she mumbled.

The conversation fell dead after that, with Magnus choosing not to respond to Izzy’s suggestion, and they trudged their way to their respective classes after the school bell rang. Before Izzy walked inside her English class, she pressed a soothing kiss on Magnus’ cheek and hugged him, finding comfort for a moment. “I’ll see you at lunch!”, she whispered.

“Of course!”, Magnus cleared his throat and entered his own class.

He had History with Maia and Raphael and when he sat on the desk next to Maia, he was a bundle of emotions – breathing heavily. “Are you alright?”, Maia stood up, sliding her arm around his back.

“I am fine... we’ll talk about all that later, please...”, he blinked. They were interrupted by the class standing up together when Professor Garroway entered. Magnus’ adoptive father taught History in Idris High School. Magnus stood up lifelessly, unable to meet Luke’s eyes because he knew that Luke would come to know about his emotions as soon as he saw him.

“Good morning class!”, Luke slammed his book on the desk and picked up the chalk to write “Civil War” on the green board. “This year, we will be going in depth in the American Civil War and as a part of your assessment, I would like you all to visit any place that has a history of Civil war attached to it and make memoir of your travels. You are going to do this in groups of three, and the deadline to submit your journals is the weekend of the Halloween Ball.

The entire classroom groaned together because the Halloween only three months away and there was no way they could get done with the assignment along with all the other things on their mind. He went ahead with the lessons and Magnus opened his book, attempting to concentrate on class and not think about anything else. They were halfway through the class when Maia passed him a note from Catarina, his best friend and confidante.

_I found some information you would want to know! Meet me after school at Idris Grill – Catarina._

Magnus’ eyes widened, and he looked up at Maia who was grinning at him as if they had hit a jackpot of some kind. Suddenly, Magnus found a new enthusiasm in completing his day at school.

.

Bloodlust hadn’t been a problem for Alec most decades, but that was because he made sure that he took blood in moderation and controlled his thirst by only feeding on animal blood that was the least triggering of its kind. However, the last few weeks had been really difficult – emotionally as well as physically. He had gone back to feeding on blood bags and straight from a human’s vein and his thirst for blood was just becoming insatiable every day that he lost control. And then there was this thing about losing Magnus and leaving Idris for the rest of the boy’s mortal life. Letting go off the love of his life had been the hardest decision of Alec’s long life so far, but he knew that it was either that, or risking Magnus losing his life to Sebastian’s dirty tricks. Every day last Summer that he had fought to keep him alive, he wondered if coming back to Idris had been worth it? He had not only lured Sebastian – an Original Vampire to their small town but exposed innocent people to his whims and fancies.

Another body dropped from his hand and fell over the top of the parapet of the building, heading for a freefall down the towering height. There was a thud a few seconds later when the body crashed on the ground and an echo of screams and shrieks sounded after people gathered around Alec’s latest kill. “Pesky humans! Always so fucking scared of anything they can’t explain!”, Sebastian chortled behind Alec’s shoulder. His heavily loaded British accent was an object of Alec’s loathe. But, as long as being with Sebastian meant that Magnus had a chance at living a normal life, he would spend centuries with this gruesome man who was the world’s most feared Vampire. He turned around to disappear from the roof before the law-enforcing authorities came up to look for the murderer, but Sebastian caught the fabric of his t-shirt and stopped the man from leaving just yet. Sebastian was a stunning looking blond man with striking blue-green eyes, but Alec despised him with the entirety of his being.

Alec took a deep breath and kept looking at the sun shining at a distance – making sure that he would not look Sebastian in the eye. His lips were covered in the blood of the man he had just killed and there was dried out blood on his chin, trickling down to his neck where it had stained his t-shirt. “I have missed this version of you, Alexander. The careless and ruthless killer who just loves the chase.”, Sebastian chuckled. He leaned closer and pressed his lips on Alec’s neck. Poking his tongue out, he licked the nape of his neck, drying him clean of blood and trailed up... sucking and licking off blood from all over Alec’s chin.

“I told you my name is Alec. Don’t call me Alexander”, Alec gritted under his teeth. He couldn’t bear to hear his full name from any other man but Magnus. Sebastian made circles on his chin with his tongue and grabbed the ends of Alec’s shirt, pulling him in for a kiss. Alec groaned, attempting to pull away from the man but Sebastian opened his eyes and glared at him.

“Stop struggling, Alec. You gave yourself to me willingly my love.”, he warned. Alec swallowed and surrendered, and Sebastian pulled him in for a kiss, grabbing the strands of his hair between his fingers. It hurt Alec, but he knew better than to piss Sebastian Verlac off. Sebastian came closer and slid his hand around Alec’s back, pushing him against the parapet of the building. “You’re just as amazing as I remember”, he licked off the blood of their victim’s from his lips and grinned. Alec shuddered, wanting to get away from his hold. The Original vampire stepped away from him and jumped on the roof. It was time to get off this building. Alec wiped of his lips bruising them a little and jumped right behind Sebastian.

Sebastian’s lair was a basement in Chicago. He and Alec arrived there and found a bunch of unconscious people tied up in one corner of the living room. Alec could stomach the idea of killing more humans. He had been trying to make sure to attack and feed on only those people who had committed a heinous crime so that his guilt would be a little lesser than usual, but he could have evaded Sebastian’s prying eyes for only so long. One of these days, he would figure out Alec’s pretention of turning his humanity off and then it will be game over for the vampire... or worse, game over for Magnus... and he couldn’t tolerate that.

“My minions picked out these people who have had some connection to the Edomai bloodline in their family history. Let’s see if their blood wakes up the sleeping sword”, Sebastian glared at Alec, pulling out the sword from its casket. The shining sword with runes carved out on it was a beautiful artifact – only if it had been used for something better than eliminating werewolves from the face of this earth. For the sword to work, the person wielding the sword needed the blood of a Herondale werewolf and an Edomai descendent of Asmodeus. With the help of his minions, Sebastian had collected multiple vials of Jace’s blood and Magnus was the last known descendant of the Edomai bloodline and he was the blood sacrifice needed to wield the sword. For the ritual to work, Sebastian had to drink every last drop of Magnus’ blood and then drop a few drops onto the sword before it got activated. And that meant Magnus’ death. To save the love of his life, Alec had offered Sebastian his own services to find someone else from the Edomai bloodline and see if a combination of blood could work so that no one had to die activating the soul sword. And he knew Sebastian would agree to his proposal because they had had a complicated past.

In the early 1920s when Alec had first turned his humanity off, he had met Sebastian in Los Angeles and the two men had scoured the entire coast, feeding off innocent humans and thriving on a very unhealthy sexual relationship between them until one day when Lady Maryse and Lady Isabelle, Alec’s mother and sister had come looking for him. A death in the family had coaxed the vampire to come back to his humanity and Alec had never returned to Sebastian again. It was safe to say that Sebastian still harbored feelings for the man and that was what Alec had used to make sure Magnus would come out alive after all this. Once they had run away from Idris, Sebastian had compelled Alec to turn his humanity off, but he didn’t know that he had had vervain in his system and resisted the compulsion. But that meant pretending to be humanity-less and killing the people Sebastian ordered to kill.

“Help yourselves”, Sebastian offered, while he readied himself for the ritual. Alec swallowed and looked at the innocent people who were tied to the wall. He really didn’t want to kill another innocent man.

“I am fine”, Alec muttered.

“You have sobered up, Alec. I don’t think that the Alec Lightwood I knew in 1920 would ever refuse for a drink directly from the vein”, Sebastian chortled, opening a vial of Jace’s blood.

“I am fine, Sebastian”, Alec repeated.

“Mr Verlac”, a soft female voice sounded from the door. It was a young girl, barely in her twenties. She had bite marks on her carotid, but she looked unfazed because of Sebastian’s flawless compulsion. “Here is the envelope you asked for”, she lifted an orange envelope in her hand and swallowed.

“Alec, darling... bring the envelope for me”, Sebastian grinned. He was holding a sharp knife against the wrist of one of the captives, ready to harvest some of their blood for his ritual.

Alec took the envelope from her hand and carefully took a look at it. It was the CCTV footage snapshots of his sister. Isabelle Lightwood was in Memphis, hovering around the empty apartment where Alec had left his victims. She was tracking him... and Sebastian. _Isabelle... what are you doing?_ Alec thought. He checked the other photos and none of them pictured his sister and so Alec took out that one snapshot and crushed it inside his pocket. Sebastian couldn’t know.

“Are you prying into the envelope?”, Sebastian called. Alec blinked and turned around. Thankfully, Sebastian wasn’t looking at him.

“Why would I pry if I don’t know what the envelope contains?”, Alec deadpanned. He threw it on the table and then jumped on the couch from behind, pouring himself a glass of bourbon.

“You keep surprising me, love... I can’t relax around you”, he added.

“I am yours now. Make yourself believe that!”, Alec scoffed. He looked at his phone when it lit up with a notification, trying to make _himself_ believe that. The words that had just come out of Alec’s mouth had killed him inside more than his immortality had ever did. He was Sebastian’s now. Until the man was done with him. Maybe he should change his wallpaper that was a selfie of him and Magnus from their decade dance of school last year. And maybe he should just turn off his humanity for real. Alec contemplated while plucking at his blood stained t-shirt. Tomorrow was Magnus’ birthday. It would have been their first birthday that they celebrated together... and now Magnus was miles away from him, and alone.

He watched Sebastian as the man let the victims bleed into a vial. Once he collected the blood, he mixed them together and then placed it with Jace’s blood to a quick boil before he poured it on the Soul Sword. Meanwhile, the man walked over to Alec and pushed him against the armrest. He climbed atop the man, pressing his groin against Alec’s thigh and kissed him. “You’re mine”, he grinned a smile that Alec wanted to destroy and throw up in the process. “I love the sound of that”, he added. Alec hummed dishearteningly and closed his eyes as Sebastian threw Alec’s hands around his back. “Hold me”, he instructed, and Alec could do nothing but obey.

Sebastian’s mouth reeked of blood and Alec tasted metallic when Sebastian lips crashed onto his. He gagged when he felt the bitterness in the back of his mouth. “You don’t kiss me back like you used to...”, Sebastian complained, pulling away from Alec. “The killer I knew was ruthless _and_ passionate... what happened to your passion”, he scanned the young Vampire’s face, hoping to see signs of emotions but Alec had perfected the art of deception with years of practice. No one could make out that he had his humanity intact while ripping out people across the entire coast. Sebastian let out a groan and climbed off from Alec, wiping his saliva off his mouth. He took out his phone and made a call, walking out of his basement.

Alec heaved a sigh of relief and straightened himself on the couch. He sniffed away his emotions and wiped off Sebastian’s touch from his mouth. Taking a quick glance at the victims who had passed out on the chairs, he walked out of the basement to take care of this issue with his sister.

...

“There have been unexplained animal attacks all across the I-40 highway in the last few weeks but now it looks like Sebastian changed his course. The last reports have come from Iowa and Nebraska and the MO is pretty much the same as the I-40 attacks.”, Catarina opened the map of the major highways in the United States of America. There were pins stuck across the I-40 route, and all the pins pointed to locations where blood-drained beheaded bodies of people were found in their home and the local police department had concluded that since all these homes were near forests, they were nothing but animal attacks.

“Sebastian and Alec are headed back towards the West Coast right now... and Sebastian is killing people to find his Edomai descendent”, Magnus licked the soda off his lips, taking the map in his hands.

“That is if Alec is still with him”, Catarina mumbled softly.

“Why wouldn’t he be?”, Magnus gasped without looking up at his best friend. She couldn’t possibly imply that something bad at happened to his boyfriend at Sebastian’s hands... and even if she did, he wouldn’t believe it.

“Magnus... you saw Sebastian murder the entire Herondale family in front of Jace”, Catarina gulped.

“Sebastian hasn’t killed Alec. He is alive. I know it. We just have to keep looking for him and once he is somewhere we know, I will go and bring back Alexander myself.”, Magnus shook his head. He couldn’t know it... but he couldn’t believe that his boyfriend had died either.

“You know Isabelle and Maryse would never allow you to go after Alec, right?”, Catarina deadpanned.

“Well, they don’t care about losing a son and a brother, but I care about losing my boyfriend, Cat”, Magnus spat. He was furious at her... but it was actually not her he was angry at her. It was just a crappy situation that he had gotten stuck in.

“The reason Alec left was to make sure Sebastian didn’t use you as the last Edomai and activate his Soul Sword. If you go after him and put yourself in harm’s way... Alec’s sacrifice will have gone for nothing?”, Cat tried to explain.

“He didn’t have the right to make that decision on our behalf, Cat. And if _he_ can decide that we should separate the way we did... I can decide that I want to go and find him... and maybe rescue him from Sebastian’s clutches”, Magnus said, determinately, stuffing his pockets with the newspaper cuttings of the killings in Iowa two nights ago. Maybe if he could get Izzy to tag along, they could track Alec down faster and with a vampire on his side, Catarina wouldn’t be as skeptical of his safety as she is now. “Thank you Cat... but I need to do this!”

“If that is what you want to do, Magnus... then take this Omamori back”, Cat plucked out Alec’s Christmas gift to him. “I spelled it with a simple anti-tracking shield... even if you follow Alec’s tracks, Sebastian wouldn’t be able to sniff you out as long as you have this with you”, she informed. Magnus’ best friend Catarina was a witch who had very recently discovered her powers and was training under her mentor Lorenzo Ray to become stronger every day.

“Thank you so much!”, Magnus smiled, bending forward to kiss Cat on his cheek. He stuffed the Omamori back in his pocket and grabbed his backpack to head home and change. He was excited to go to the Lightwood Manor and tell Izzy that he may have finally found Alec.

...

The living room of the Lightwood manor was buzzing with youngsters. They were all underage and yet, all the drinks at the party were spiked – courtesy Isabelle Sophia Lightwood. The younger sister of Magnus’ boyfriend, Izzy was a 152-year old Vampire who was turned at the same time as Alec after an epidemic hit their village and killed their father Robert Lightwood. A passerby found Maryse, Izzy and Alec dying of the infection and used some of his blood to cure them, but they died in the process and were reborn as Vampires.

Since then, the three Lightwoods scoured America, finding ways to live without being found out and their last stop had been Idris where Alec had found love again... in form of the amazing Magnus Bane and he was just getting his old life back together when Sebastian happened and ruined everything. It was ironic how Alec had fallen for the last Edomai descendent whose blood had been used to lock the sacred Soul Sword that could protect every supernatural being on this earth.

An Edomai descendent held enormous power in his blood because of a spell that was enchanted on the first one. He was an old man called Asmodeus and he was given the gift of magic in his blood by one of the witches of his time. It was prophesied that his bloodline will have unspeakable power to bind spells and break curses and activate the Soul Sword that was the savior of the entire shadow world – vampire, werewolves and witches included. As animosity arose and clashes came into being, Asmodeus was murdered so that no one could activate the sword for their benefit and ruin the other members of the shadow world. But they had no idea that Asmodeus had sent his newborn son away, right before he was murdered, and the son carried on the Edomai blood to several generations until Magnus was born to his parents.

Sebastian belonged to one of the first families of Vampires and had the power to compel even Vampires unlike the ones like Izzy and Alec who could only compel humans. Sebastian was a demon-blooded vampire stronger than others and he wanted the entire werewolf community to perish so that he could rid the world of rabid dogs in his mind. To do that, he needed to activate the Soul Sword. It had taken him a while to track down the lineage of Asmodeus and that had brought him to Magnus who lived in a small town of Idris. When he arrived in Idris, he found that the lost love of his life – his muse – Alec Lightwood was also a resident, and surprisingly in love with the man who Sebastian wanted to kill. And now, he wanted both Magnus’ blood and Alec’s love so that he could win in both aspects of his life.

Magnus wore a simple cotton shirt and a bunch of necklaces adorning his neck. He coupled it with a pair of brown skinny pants and cowboy boots. In the crowd he recognized a few people like his best friend Raphael and their classmates Lydia, Raj and Underhill who Alec had gotten pretty close to. There were both juniors and sophomores because Izzy was one and most of the kids were pretty drunk for a school night. He rolled his eyes, making his way up to Isabelle’s room where Cat had informed she would be. Magnus knocked the door and walked inside after Izzy called his name.

“You came!”, she sighed, pulling him in his arms. Magnus closed his eyes and tried to imagine that everything was fine, and he would find Alec in the room next to Izzy’s, lying on his bed, reading a book.

“I had to”, Magnus shrugged. “It is _my_ birthday for crying out loud”, he added, trying to make a joke.

“It is going to be fun, trust me! Clary and I have gone above and beyond to make it special for our favorite person in this whole wide world!”, she grabbed his shoulders and squeezed them.

“I hope so”, Magnus faked a smile.

“Shall we head out? The people out there might be waiting to meet the guest of honor”, she hooked her arm in his and pulled him towards the door.

“Isabelle!”, Magnus stopped her.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something... before we go down to the party. If that is okay with you...”, he swallowed nervously.

“Yes... tell me?”, Izzy crossed her hands over her chest. Magnus shifted his weight between his feet and took out the newspaper clippings from his pocket. Isabelle narrowed her brows, focusing her eyes on the crumpled bits of paper.

“Maia and Catarina tracked down some animal attacks in Iowa and Nebraska... in the last two days!”, he gulped. Isabelle clenched her jaw and looked away, closing her eyes. “We have reasons to believe that Alec and Sebastian are heading back to the East Coast as we speak... and we can track them down if we want to”, he shrugged.

“Magnus, I told you we shouldn’t...”, she rubbed her eyes, lifting her other hand on her hips. “There’s a reason Alec doesn’t want to be found out!”

“Isabelle, I cannot sit here and do nothing...”, Magnus clenched his jaw. “I cannot live my life as if Alec was never a part of it... as if I never fell in love with him... and he loves me too. You know he does”

“Yes, and he _doesn’t_ want to be found out!”, Izzy snapped.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know if Sebastian is forcing his hand”, Magnus yelled back.

“Alec made you promise him that you’ll live your life... to the happiest way possible”, Izzy fisted her hands and urged the boy.

“And I am... my happiness is with Alexander... and I am just trying to bring him back to me”, Magnus shrugged.

“You’re not thinking clearly. Sebastian will kill you if he ever sees you near Alec. This is not up for debate Magnus. I cannot risk your life like this”, Izzy screamed. “He will kill you!!”

“Why would he? Alec promised him that he would not stop until he found someone or a group of someone to activate the Soul Sword for him... and when that happens, Alexander can come back to me...”, Magnus licked his lips.

“Magnus that’s not why Sebastian took Alec. He could have found out a replacement for Edomai blood if he wanted to spare you!”, Izzy sighed, looking away so that she didn’t face Magnus.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Sebastian wanted Alec with him... because he is still in love with my brother. Has been for almost a century now and when he found out that he was with you, his desire to execute the last Edomai descendent grew beyond anything he had ever felt before. Because if he could get rid of you, he could have shot two birds with one stone – activated the sword and claimed Alec back in his life”, she clenched her jaw.

“What?”

“Alec and Sebastian met in the 20s when Alec was on edge... after Max’s untimely death. And he and Sebastian scoured the entire West Coast, killing and executing people for their pleasure. That’s until we found Alec and took him back. They were together, Magnus... _together_ together. When Alec chose to leave with Sebastian, it was because he knew that Sebastian would love to have his old lover back... and _that_ it could distract him from hunting you down”

“He sold his body to Sebastian?”, Magnus asked.

“For you... because I have never seen anyone who has affected my brother like you have and it’s not surprising that he did something like that for your sake.”, Izzy turned to Magnus who was standing there with pools of tears in his eyes. “And I need you... _want_ you to honor what Alec feels for you... because he sacrificed himself, and his sanity and the least you can do is live a life which is happy and loved so that Alec would know that he really did save you... from Sebastian and the darkest parts of himself before it was too late. Stop searching for him, Magnus. Please!”, Izzy pleaded.

“Fine... I won’t go after him... but please take this and see if there is something _you_ can do... maybe reach out and talk to him. He wouldn’t respond to me... but he might want to talk to you?”, Magnus shook his leg as he spoke, with his tears threatening to pour out of his eyes. “Just... see if he is fine... that’s all I need to know”, he scrunched his nose and discarded the newspaper clips aside, walking out of Isabelle’s room without her. She banged her back on the door and groaned. There was a text alert on her other phone that she had hidden from Magnus. Maybe it was time to and pay his brother and Sebastian Verlac a visit.

...

This white man that Alec held in within his unusually strong clutches had just shot down an innocent human after mugging him for a few dollars. Sebastian was keeping a close watch on him and he had to keep up the façade that he had turned his humanity off. That meant killing a human and drinking blood directly from the veins every now and then. This man was crying and bleeding from where Alec had momentarily bit him a few seconds ago. His hands were folded in front of his chest and he was begging Alec to let him go and that he would never mug anyone ever again. Alec’s usual hazel eyes had been replaced by an inflamed pair of red eyeballs and the veins surrounding his socket were boiling up with blood that was rushing to his eyes. He knew he looked nothing short of a monster with blood dripping from one of his canines. “Stop struggling or you will bleed out rather slowly and painfully...”, Alec warned, pinning the man to a wall in the back alley of a street in West Virginia. He lifted one of his hands and placed the palm on this mugger’s mouth, blocking his screams so that he wouldn’t be disturbed when he ends this man’s life.

“Stop screaming and calm down. I am going to make this quick. I promise.”, he focused his gaze on his victim and slowly compelled him to obey him. The poor man instantly relaxed and stopped struggling – growing limp in Alec’s hold. His heart was asking him to run for help but his brain was helpless against the mind compulsion by this beast of a man. Alec bared his long canines and tilted the victims chin away to give him access to his artery that was throbbing with blood. He threw the teeth at his carotid and with a quick stroke, the canines dug deep inside the man.

Alec slid his hands under the victim’s arms and pulled him close to his chest after blood started leaking out from the carotid. The man was conscious for only a few more minutes and then his eyes started rolling in his socket as he lost consciousness. He felt his body grow cold and his visions blurring in front of him until a single whistling tone erupted in his ears. The back of his mind yelled that his end was near... and that he wouldn’t survive this attack.

Alec felt a jolt of electricity striking his back and he jumped away from his victim who collapsed on the ground, cracking his knees in the process. Alec wiped the blood off his lips and looked back to attack whoever had dared to stop him in the middle of his feeding. It was Isabelle Lightwood – his little sister. She was crouched in front of the injured human, making him feed on her blood from her wrist and healing his injuries. She turned her head on her neck and hissed at her brother – her eyes the same red as Alec’s. Turning back to the victim who was confused and unaware of anything around him. “You are going to go home from here and not look back or stop. You will make yourself some dinner and drink some juice and promise yourself that you will never kill for money again. And as far as this night has gone, you will not remembering any of this. Do you hear me?”, she compelled away the memories of his attack and put herself between Alec and the man until the man crawled away to safety, disappearing across the street, stumbling on the rubble below his feet.

“Wow!”, Isabelle rolled her eyes and mock-clapped, turning to face her brother. Another shadow came out under the light behind her. Alec tilted his neck to see who it was and recognized Sebastian who Isabelle had started dating over this summer. He was a young vampire who was looking for a place to start over where no one would recognize him. When he met Isabelle, the girl guided him, and, in the process, they had very recently started seeing each other. But he knew his sister more than he knew Meliorn and ever since she had lost one of her boyfriends to death in the 70s, she had stopped giving her heart to anyone and believed in pleasure above emotions. So, whoever this Meliorn was, he wouldn’t have lasted long with his sister.

“What are you doing here, Isabelle?”, Alec grunted, his eyes still blazing red in lieu of his kill being interrupted.

“I came here to tell you that Magnus is closing in on you warn you that he was going to do something reckless... but _wow,_ Alec...”, she taunted. “You’re the one who is reckless and out of control... after promising me that you’d never let yourself go through the same pain again?”, she crossed her hands over her chest and tears stung her eyes but never came out.

“This is what I want, Izzy. I need to feel this way.”, Alec rubbed his hair violently and turned his back to his sister. “I want this bloodlust in my mind because this is what...”, he lied.

“...keeps you from spiraling because you let go off Magnus”, Isabelle completed his sentence for him which they both knew was the true. Alec coughed out clotted blood from his mouth and looked away. If Isabelle saw his eyes, she would come to know that she was right in her assumption.

“This is what I want because of who I am!”, he hissed.

“No, you don’t, Alec. Stop lying to yourself. This isn’t who you are. You haven’t been _this person_ for almost a century!”, she argued, snapping right back at her older brother even though she knew he was on edge.

“And I was lying to myself thinking that I had changed. I had let myself believe that I could have a normal human life, but I am a monster, Isabelle. And Sebastian made me realize that this is what I need... this is what my body demands... this is my true nature. I rip people’s hearts and I find pleasure in that”

“This is bullshit. You’re pretending to be this man you’re not so that Sebastian wouldn’t come tracking Magnus!”, Izzy deadpanned.

“I don’t care what happens to Magnus”, Alec snapped. “He is a part of my past, Izzy. Nothing more”

“Oh, I think you’re lying”, Izzy called his bluff. “The whole reason why you have lost control over yourself and you’re feeding on humans again because you think that if Magnus sees you like this, he will leave you... and you want to keep him safe. I have seen you fall for that boy, Alec. That hasn’t happened since... I don’t even remember you being this deeply in love with anyone. And I know that you feel the same way. Magnus opened you in ways no one could... not even me and now you’re doing all this to make you hate yourself... to make you become someone who Magnus could never love so that you don’t feel the pain you do right now”, she explained.

Alec slowly turned to face his sister again and then glared at her with his red eyes. He knew she was right. She had called him out for all the reasons that Alec was making himself believe weren’t true. She knew him. How could she not? They had grown up together and lived and ran around America for over a century now, never leaving the other’s side. He looked over her shoulder and saw her boyfriend-friend-with-benefit Meliorn. The vampire was guarding Izzy’s 6 o’clock even though he knew she didn’t need any protecting. She was fierce and ruthless... and on top of it, she had complete and natural control over her instincts.

“What do you want to hear, Isabelle?”, he growled.

“If you want Magnus to be safe... you either cover your tracks... or make sure you’re nowhere near this side of the coast...”, Izzy snorted. “Because you know him... if he finds you close, he’ll come to rescue you and I won’t be able to stop him next time... because today he asked me if he could come with him to rescue you... but the next time? Maybe he won’t even tell me that he is coming!”

Alec sighed. She was right. Magnus was that fierce. And he had to show him a lesson... give him something that will keep the boy away from tracking Alec. The Vampire looked over Izzy’s shoulder and saw Meliorn. He was raging in anger and there was somewhere this anger had to be let out, otherwise he would have ended up hurting Izzy or himself. He smirked softly and within the next split of a second, he had the vampire in his chokehold. “Meliorn!!”, Izzy screeched. Alec placed his hands on the man’s neck and glared at his sister.

“I want you to leave!”, he warned.

“Alec, let Meliorn go!”

“Only if I know you’re leaving from here. And tell Magnus that if he tries to find me again, the next time... this will be his friend Raphael or worse... his step-father Luke Garroway, that pesky history teacher”, Alec gritted under his breath. Meliorn’s heart was thrumming in his chest. He looked over at Isabelle whose palms were in the air as she horrifically looked at her friend.

“Alec... let him go, please. He doesn’t deserve this”, the girl choked. Alec rolled his tongue over his teeth and then released his hold on the man. Meliorn sighed in relief and grabbed his neck to massage it. What a close call this had been. He took a step further towards Isabelle who was relieved too when a hand went right through his chest and his heart came out of his body. Izzy gasped, gaping her mouth wide open. Meliorn looked down and saw a hand covered in blood sticking out of his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be. His heart was squeezed between this bloodied hand and this young vampire felt life leaving his body as he exhaled. The heart squashed to the floor the next second and Alec pulled his hand out of the other side. Meliorn collapsed on the ground and died. His body turned into a veined mass of grey skin as if it had been rotting for a while now. Izzy’s lips wiggled as she saw her friend die in the hands of his brother. Alec rubbed his hand on his shirt.

“I warned you”, he muttered, jumping away from Isabelle before she had a chance to say anything. Izzy collapsed on the ground next to Meliorn and closed his eyes. Her brother had lost all touch with his humanity this time. Tears rolled down her eyes as she scooped him in his arms to take him back to their town. Alec was standing on the ledge of the roof, watching his sister struggle her way back. A single tear rolled down his own eyes because he knew how innocent Meliorn had been... and how he did not deserve what Alec did to him. But if this was the way he could keep Magnus away from danger, he would kill thousands of Meliorns.

**Author's Note:**

> yep, so here we go. that's the prologue/introduction.  
> let me know what you thought, criticism is welcome BUT don't be cruel or rude.
> 
> oh, and happy birthday Alaa! I hope I did not mess it up.


End file.
